Like a “Black Mirror” episode combined with a philosophy seminar, “Realive” has plenty of brains. Yet it has a heart, too, and that adds a surprising amount of emotion to this above-average science-fiction film.

Set in the past, present and future, all story lines center on Marc (Tom Hughes). His life is charted from his first breath (the movie’s opening shows an actual birth, up close) through scenes of his childhood before moving to a time near today, when he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Marc decides to cryo-freeze his body in hopes of later being cured, leading to his reanimation — or rebirth, if you will — in 2084. It’s no surprise that his plans have unexpected consequences.

Mateo Gil, the writer and director, prizes ideas as much as action. Voice-overs have Marc expounding on memory, longing and mortality while the script probes the side effects of technology. The future scenes evoke the creepiness and claustrophobia of “Ex Machina” and, like that film, hark back to the “Frankenstein” story.

The romance at the center of “Realive” keeps it from becoming too cold. Marc’s girlfriend, Naomi (Oona Chaplin), struggles with losing him, while Elizabeth (Charlotte Le Bon), his nurse in 2084, has affections and worries of her own. A montage recalling Marc and Naomi’s on-again, off-again relationship is one of several lovely moments from the exceptional cast.

“Realive” occasionally sets a cautious pace, and the voice-overs can be wordy. But this film errs on the side of ambition, making such faults easy to excuse. For sure, Mr. Gil and his cast are exploring something here, and those efforts are well worth watching.